Truck driver kicked out of pub before fatally crashing into tree

A truck driver kicked out of a hotel after a night of drinking last year died when he crashed his ute on the way home, a coroner has found.

Stephen Charles Shepperd died in June last year when he drove home drunk and not wearing a seat belt at Moorleah, southwest of Wynyard.

TRUCK driver Stephen Charles Shepperd had been kicked out of Wynyard’s Bushrangers Hotel the night he made a fatal decision to drive home after a night of drinking top-shelf liquor.

Not only did the 62-year-old have a blood alcohol reading of 0.232, he also failed to put on his seat belt before attempting to drive his ute home to Preolenna.

In a newly released finding, Coroner Andrew McKee said Mr Shepperd failed to straighten his steering wheel after negotiating a right-hand curve along Preolenna Rd at Moorleah on June 7 last year.

As a result, his car veered into the oncoming lane and off the road before crashing into a concrete post and a tree.

Mr Shepperd died from multiple chest injuries with haemorrhaging and his sternum cut through.

Mr McKee said Mr Shepperd had been seen at the Bushrangers Hotel being abusive to other patrons before security “excluded” him from the premises.

His girlfriend of six months, whom he was with shortly before his death, later told the coroner her partner could become “aggressive” after drinking top-shelf liquor.

She walked home and as she arrived, Mr Shepperd turned up in his ute, Mr McKee said.

The pair argued and Mr Shepperd drove away, with his crashed ute discovered shortly afterwards by a passing motorist.

Crash scene investigator Sven Mason said he believed Mr Shepperd might not have died if he had been wearing a seat belt.

Mr McKee said the crash would not have occurred if Mr Shepperd had decided not to drive after drinking alcohol.

“His consumption of alcohol impaired his driving performance to the point of being unable to properly control a motor vehicle,” he said.

“This case is just one further example of the consequences that flow from an individual’s decision to drive a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol and failing to wear a seat belt.”